| Walk down any city street and
you see people rushing by. Walk through Penn Station in New York
City and you see swarms of people staring into space, oblivious to the
homeless around them. Read the newspapers and you see pictures of
despair and death. Whether it's the KKK or the LAPD, you can't
miss the message. Our society has lost its moral rudder.
There was a time when ethics and rules of conduct
meant something, when individuals took responsibility for their
actions. We hear the copouts.
"I was born poor, so stealing is OK."
"I couldn't get a job because I'm black" -
or fat or a woman.
Recently, the president of the National Fraternal
Order of Police gave an "explanation" of the police beating of
a black man in L.A. He suggested the cause of this outrage cold be
frustration with revolving-door justice.
I Remember when parents took responsibility for
their children's moral education, when people took pride in their
neighborhoods, when senior citizens were held in esteem, when teachers
were respected members of the community and Sunday school brought
neighbors together.
In the past, our society carved out clear-cut norms of
conduct and people responded to unethical behavior. Even Mayor
Daley's Chicago machine commanded a degree of respect that seems beyond
the grasp of today's elected officials. Professional athletes of
the likes of
"Joltin Joe" or the "Babe" soared like gods in kids'
eyes. Today Ricky or Darryl won't play because the ante isn't high
enough.
Things started to change after World War II. For
the first time, women ran households while husbands served in Europe and
Asia. There was rock 'n' roll and this, too, set off a few
tremors. But like James Dean, rock 'n' roll was a small
rebel yell still waiting for a cause. Nevertheless, the die was
cast; the sound of fury was born.
JFK AND CAMELOT raised our hopes and cast a
spell from another time and place. The spell was shattered one
dark and still November day, however, by a shot heard around the
world. The New Frontier seemed to vanish.
Then came the tidal wave of Vietnam. Politicians
and the wealthy were exposed for preaching "Do as I say, not as I
do." As less well-to-do kids were sent off to Vietnam while
the wealthy found ways to keep their children home, people noticed and
began to ask what happened to "fairness."
The hypocrisy exploded into the open. In the
aftershock, the "me" generation" was born. It's
battle cry: Since you don't take care of me, I'll take care of
me. |
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Traditional moral guideposts
crumbled in the backlash against the war. Mom and apple pie were
tossed onto the ash heap of history. Scores of people saw no moral
rationale to accept responsibility for rules of conduct established by a
society unwilling to ask everyone to shoulder the same burdens.
The post "Tet" years of the late 1960's saw
the revolt against the establishment manifest itself in live-ins, riots,
marches, psychedelia and drugs. In many ways this uniquely
American awakening shouted "tune in, turn on, drop out."
America's slide away form family, school and other established social
institutions started the transformation from innocence to
cynicism. As the 1970's dawned, no institution was spared from
inspection.
WATERGATE exemplified the hypocrisy of our
government. Lord Acton's dictum that "power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely" was brought to its crowning realization
in this American tragedy. After Watergate, America never turned
back.
As we came to grips with the lost innocence of a
bygone era, the "me generation" slid into ever deeper depths
of self-absorption. We began to grow away from social responsibilities
and into aggressive, self-centered actions devoid of any social
connection. The flight to the suburbs symbolized the exodus of a
people fleeing a society in decay.
The pendulum has swung far from a society of
traditional ethical values. The "me generation" has
given birth to a generation of "Yuppies" obsessed with
consumption and acquisition and material goods to demonstrate their
worth.
Role models may have gone the way of the dinosaur.
Perhaps as new immigrants join American society, their
ethics of hard work, respect for education and family will help America
come to terms with itself as a nation where social values and responsibilities
mean something again.
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